Dr. Colleen Norris

Dr. Colleen Norris received a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology at the University Of Alberta School Of Public Health. Her research focuses on the health outcomes of patients with coronary artery disease.  As part of her doctoral work she designed and directed the follow-up evaluation of the Alberta Provincial Project for Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease (APPROACH), (www.approach.org) a province wide clinical data collection initiative that captures all patients undergoing cardiac catheterization in the province of Alberta. Dr. Norris completed post-doctoral fellowships awarded through the Canadian Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Team (CCORT) and Tomorrows Research Cardiovascular Health Professionals (TORCH). Upon acquiring a tenure-track position with the Faculty of Nursing, Dr. Norris successfully attained a Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) New Investigators Award (2004-2009) followed by an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) Population Health Investigator Award (2005-2009).

Through her research associations Dr. Norris has collaborated with researchers locally, nationally and internationally from various health care disciplines in the general area of cardiovascular epidemiology and health outcomes research. She has held operational grant funding from CIHR and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada as both a PI and Co-Investigator of studies focusing on outcomes research. She presently has joint appointments with the Divisions of Cardiology in the Faculty of Medicine, and the School of Public Health. As a member of the APPROACH team, and an Epidemiologist, her role in these cross-appointments includes assisting medical students, residents and clinicians both from a methodological and a statistical perspective with their research projects. Dr. Norris was the Epidemiological consultant for the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, a relationship that was formalized in 2011 when she was seconded to the Division as the Associate Director of Research.

Based on her growing expertise in Cardiovascular health outcomes research, Dr. Norris has been invited to speak at National and International plenary sessions including the American Heart Association Health Outcomes Conference, an International forum on health outcomes research, as well as the Canadian Cardiovascular Nursing Congress (closing address), the American Heart Association Annual Meeting (Chicago) and most recently at the European Cardiovascular Congress (Munich Germany).   She has and continues to serve on research committees and peer Review Panels of the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, the University of Alberta, CIHR, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, and the American Heart Association. Dr. Norris’ research activities have led to 158 peer reviewed publications including high profile papers published in journals including Circulation, JAMA, and Annals of Internal Medicine. She presently teaches a graduate statistics course and mentors Masters and Doctoral students in Nursing.

Selected Publications

  • Oreopoulos A, McAlister FA, Kalantar-Zadeh K, Padwal RA, Ezekowitz J, Sharma A, Fonarow GC, Norris CM. The Relationship Between Body Mass Index, Treatment, and Mortality in Patients with Established Coronary Artery Disease: A Report from APPROACH. European Heart Journal. In Print 2009.
  • Mohamed R, McAlister FA, Pretorius V, Kapoor AS, Majumdar SR, Ross DB, Norris CM, Alberta Provincial Program for Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease I. Preoperative statin use and infection after cardiac surgery: a cohort study. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2009; 48(7): e66-72.
  • Broddadottir H, Jensen L, Norris C, Graham M. Health-related quality of life in women with coronary artery disease. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. 2009;8 (1): 18-25.
  • Norris CM, Patterson L, Galbraith PD, Hegadoren KH. All you have to do is call; A Pilot Study to improve the outcomes of patients with coronary artery disease. Applied Nursing Research. 2009; 22(2): 133-137.
  • Norris CM, King K. A qualitative examination of the factors that influence women's quality of life as they live with coronary artery disease. Western Journal of Nursing Research. 2009;31 (4): 513-524.

Current Grants

  • Co- Principal Investigator,  Sex Differences and Determinants of Health Status Post AMI- Heart and Stroke Foundation $ 154,000 (2008-2011)
  • Co- Investigator, Outcomes of Medical, Surgical, and Percutaneous Treatment of Peripheral Arterial Disease. Faculty of Medicine and CHA Emerging Teams Grant, $300,000, (2008-2011)
  • Co- Investigator, The Initiative for Translational Hypertension Research: Tackling hypertension-related health management through knowledge translation, system re-design and direct translation of bench to practice. Faculty of Medicine and CHA Emerging Teams Grant, $300,000, (2008-2011)
  • Co-Investigator, Canadian Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Team  CCORT II, Canadian Institute of Health Research - $ 4,214,550.00 (2006-2011)

Colleen Norris

Colleen Norris, RN PhD
Professor

Email: colleen.norris@ualberta.ca
Phone: 780.492.0644
Fax: 780.492.2551
Office: CSB 4-112G

Mailing address:
Faculty of Nursing
Level 3, Edmonton Clinic Health Academy 
11405 87 Avenue
University of Alberta
Edmonton Alberta T6G 1C9


  • PhD (Epidemiology), University of Alberta (June 2002)
  • MN, University of Alberta (1992)
  • BScN, University of Alberta (1982)
  • RN, University of Alberta Hospital (1978)